


Young And A Menace

by InsaneScriptist



Series: Tumblr Inspired Insanities [3]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!, RWBY
Genre: Being Qrow is Suffering, He can't blame everything on his luck, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Xanxus is a terrifying kid, but watch him try
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-04-09
Packaged: 2019-12-18 15:29:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18252665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsaneScriptist/pseuds/InsaneScriptist
Summary: Qrow's bad luck Semblance is unfortunately always active and nothing is more unfortunate than finding the result of an unremembered fling killing grimm and bringing up all kinds of bad childhood memories.Xanxus on the other hand wants his people and and his damn life to make sense after Gesso shoved him into some other world. At least getting adopted by a drunk who cares is far from the worst thing to happen.





	1. Corvids and Assassins meet pt 1

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by an ask from Tumblr. Anon: Have you ever seen RWBY? I recently got hooked on it and then disappointed so I thought fanfic would make it better and idid but then I got to looking at crossovers and well, I thought KHR would make a fantastic cross but every fic with KHR is all about Tsuna which is kinda disappointing. Please fix?
> 
> Also edited parts of it to make it longer.

“Qrow, it seems like your bad luck outdone itself.” Tai Yang’s laughter could be heard clearly through the scroll, much to Qrow’s displeasure. Tai was a terrible friend. One in need reminding of how to be a good one at scythe point. “So how did this come to be? A drunken hook-up?”

“Hell if I know. This town is small and the brat with a mouth is from mean streets. He'd fit right in at Vacao.” Qrow took a long swig of his alcohol, savoring it. Alcohol would never betray or laugh at him like Tai was.

“This brat isn’t killing you because you’re feeding him.” Said brat ate like he had fought off a horde of marauding grimm, because he had. It was how Qrow had found him. Burning through the grimm like killing the creatures of extinction was child’s play. And not something that the Kingdoms spent oodles of lein and years of training on bratty kids to turn them into Huntsmen. “And knowing Ma, she stole his wallet after if he didn’t pay up front.”

There was a choking sound over the scroll. Qrow made a choking sound of his own turned into a coughing fit, not at all helped by the alcohol now burning down his lungs instead of into his gut. Bad luck for him again.

His day got even worse once he convinced his lungs to stop hacking and realized his drink wasn’t where he left it.

Glancing over at the kid that looked like he could be his child with the red eyes, black hair and ability to knock back stiff drinks like they were milk.

The last was what really sealed the deal for Qrow Branwen.

Kid didn’t share many of his features -mostly coloring- from what Qrow could tell but yay him, Qrow Branwen accepted the fact that he had clearly managed to procreate. He was a father somehow and wasn’t that the biggest kick in the teeth today?

“Hey, kiddo, what’s your name?” Qrow managed to ask, _very smoothly_ , ignoring the squawk over the scroll from Tai. And the scolding.

“Xanxus, derived from Xanthus meaning ‘yellow,’ dumbass.”

“Yellow?” Qrow asked, not seeing it.

“How should I know? Ma was out of her head half the time. She’s dead by the way.” And had been for some time, if Qrow was any judge.

Today was clearly one for the record books, in terms of bad luck.

He wasn't nearly drunk enough for this.

* * *

 Xanxus was many things, an assassin, a pillar of the Vongola Famiglia and Boss of the Varia. 

He also appeared to be about eight, in a world where the moon got fucked over, part of humanity wouldn’t be out of place in a furry convention, all of civilization under constant threat from big black beasts known as grimm that would like nothing more than to cause the death of all intelligent life.

Although, intelligent life _might_ be pushing it. Politics and all that had a way of fucking over the best of intentions and ruining everything for those below the ones making the decisions.

Also fuck that Gesso bastard.

So hard. With a gun even, on a hair trigger.

He was tiny, weak, in the middle of no where, in monster infested wilderness with no weapons, no data and a whole lot of mean.

The local grimm took a solid hit. Also those grimm along the 'roads' took a hit, what with him traveling to nearby towns happened destroying grimm on the way. Great stress relief. Learned a lot of things too, so he could pass for a native, if one more recently of Vacao or close enough to it. Vacao was apparently lawless or close enough and people didn't question it too closely; the people of Vacao had a reputation and seemingly child or not, they didn't bother him too much if all he wanted was some food and a place to sleep.

Then he hit his first serious lucky break while getting hassled on the way to the next town; he got some help, even while the guy with the transforming weapon bemoaned his luck. The help wasn’t needed in the fight, but he had no resources but what he could beg, borrow, steal and his own wits.

Thankfully the guy he ran into was a Hunter and they looked enough alike to pass as father and child. Wasn't that a surprise? One that he could use to get somewhere other than the sticks, get some resources and figure out more of just what to do since he was unlikely to find the version of Byakuran that existed here any time soon; should said version still be alive.

Getting adopted by a drunk would only be an improvement over a manipulative old fuck.


	2. Corvids and Assassins meet pt 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another tumblr prompt from Anon: Might headcannons be given for that dimensionally displaced Xanxus and Qrow?

Qrow due to his bad luck has concerns about transportation -it stems from an issue caused by his luck back when he attended Beacon and he has not forgotten his first bullhead crash or any of the subsequent ones for all that the latter ones tend to include flocks of nevermores- and so he prefers to hoof it or just fly on his own wings. Much easier and by now, people let him back on air transport without reporting his presence to their superiors in case of crash. Some pilots still give him the evil eye, which fair enough; he's a known bad luck charm.

So while he’s perfectly able to have extended trips in the wilderness away from civilization and all the headaches that come with it, he’s not exactly prepared to travel with a kid -much less his own- because the problem in staying out in the wild for weeks on end is that there’s no alcohol. Otherwise he has days he’s sober and he’d rather not. Working the Frontier isn't hard either and makes it so he has his alcohol, while keeping people safe and letting him follow up on leads for Ozpin.

Tai gets cut off from what he’s saying -more bad puns and scolding- when Qrow closes his scroll and turns it off; that way he doesn’t have to deal with his scroll bugging him when and if others call him. He told Tai, so Tai would tell the rest for him.

“Friend?” His kid -Xanxus- asked him, eyes serious. Way too serious for the eight or so he appears. Honestly there was no telling when or how he happened to procreate but he’s been to Vacao before within that timeframe so it’s plausible. Of course people move around too, not just huntsmen or students, so yeah. It could have happened. Especially around the Vytal festival, as that’s the only time Vacao looks like it has more than a farce of government and law. That would place the kid about eight or so he looks then and Qrow still in Beacon. 

“Yeah, practically a brother.” Qrow said as the math paints him to have become a father while a third year; there he was, a shining example of responsibility and a credit to Beacon’s name. He would have been about twenty then? 

It is a series of coincidences that could only be attributed to luck, attribute bad of course.

-

Xanxus has no idea what he’s doing here.

Actually that’s a lie; he’s exploiting a resemblance for resources. Beyond that? He hasn’t a fucking clue but he’d like one.

He has an idea of what to do in the future -find Byakuran Gesso and make his counterpart suffer- but it’s the here and now that are a bit lacking in details. He’s been surviving but surviving won’t cut it, and certainly won’t let him find Byakuran Gesso by anything but luck. He doesn't even have the certainty that this Byakuran is even alive still, for all that Byakuran being aware of this world means he's probably living. He could die, as there's plenty of ways to do that.

And as he doesn’t have the means to find Byakuran Gesso or the ability to traverse dimensions -even just mentally- he’s stuck here in this world where everything is just not… it’s not home, even if home meant a castle full of crazy assassins. 

He knows everything is too fresh and too raw -time spent here was not nearly enough time to do any grieving- for him to convincingly pretend to be a kid or age-appropriate, so he’s going to not do so. Not like he was dumb either. He’s picked up on enough to pass but he’s not going to paint himself into a corner either. Too easy to get caught in a lie. Keep details close enough to the truth that he'd be honest enough that people won't pry more.

“So we going somewhere or are you going to get drunk?” Because he'd rather not watch someone else get increasingly drunk. A melancholy and highly functional drunk, but still drunk.

“Isn’t that what a person does upon learning that they’re a father?” Qrow snarked back, showing further evidence he kept his wits about him.

“That’s only when the woman tells him and he’s happy about it.” The implication being, he'd seen otherwise. Which yes, he had. Slums probably weren't that different in a different world. Cesspits of trash, despair and people escaping misery through chemicals and turning into addicts and dealers willing to do more and more for another fix.

Qrow just finished his drink.

-

Qrow let things lapse into silence and decided that he ought to see about procuring some lodging for him and his newly found son.

That was still a trip to even _think_ about.

Secure in their paid for rooms, Qrow decided he needed to figure out exactly what he needed to do… as soon the kid stopped investigating the two bed box-like room. He was looking at the window, no the latch. It was one of those twist latches; not very secure, but enough to make it difficult to open it from the outside and easier to break the window than the latch. Then he was at the door lock and even the hinges before investigating the small and cramped bathroom off the side. More investigating the door.

Escape routes? Or how secure they were in their room? The door wasn't that thick, and the hinges were on the inside... oh, so it was security that the kid was investigating. Was the kid expecting someone to break in? Which yeah, Vacao all over.

He heard the he bathroom door latch and lock, before he heard the shower kick on. Kid hadn't even set his bag out on the bed and Qrow did kinda want to look in and see what he had in it. Can’t fault the kid for his priorities there either. Kid had learned hard lessons, probably the hard way too; leaving something out was just asking for it to be taken when among thieves.

-

Xanxus when he arrived in this world with the fucked moon had actually arrived with the clothes on his back; they were just far far too big for the size he was. He was at least a meter shorter and far less broad; kinda scrawny really.

And they would have been such a hindrance to him, more than being barefoot would have been. So his first priority was clothing. Cannibalizing his formerly crisp white shirt had at least given him something to wear. And then he’d burned his uniform after stripping off his weapons, the belts of ammo and the command braids. He’d turn those into proper hair accessories later. They all pretty much got tossed into a makeshift knapsack -repurposing a sleeve- as he left his landing area in search of civilization.

He’d eventually reached a proper town, only to find it deserted and half destroyed but at least he’d lucked into mostly fitting clothing, an okay rucksack to put his weapons and some other needed supplies in. He’d learned a bit about the world, like how the language was English going by the signs and few books that weren't ruined which he brushed off as parallel world nonsense. Oh and a map in one of those books.

How a parallel world ended up with such vastly different continents was also something he had no clue about. The moon could have had an accident but nothing explained the difference in landmasses.

Still this shower was his first proper wash in nearly a month as a scrub down in a creek or lake was just enough to take the worst off. He let the grime and sweat wash off before scrubbing down using the hotel's supply instead of his own scavenged supply. Same for his hair; getting clean after being somewhat filthy for a month at least was great. It made him feel like he hadn't gone half-feral.

Then after changing into one of his few spare sets of clothing, he went and washed his old clothes in the sink too using more hotel soap; wasn't proper laundry soap but it wasn't like he was that attached to the clothing. It was just something to wear, so needed to be in wearable condition. Using Flames for something as mundane as drying laundry was ridiculous but easy, so it went back into his rucksack.

Combing his hair with his fingers, he took his bag with him out into the rented bedroom. “Bathroom’s open.”

-

“I’ll get a shower in a bit. Let’s talk.” Qrow said, as nicely as he could. Wasn't very nice, judging by the suspicious glare. Not quite a murder glare, but close. “How long you’ve been on your own?”

“A while.” Which, yes Qrow could figure out, as the brat started taking out knives from his pack. His kid clearly knew how to survive and in the wilds as well. Which wasn't easy, on your own or as part of a tribe of thieves. And did the kid need that _many_ knives?

_Good knives_ , his inner bandit voice said, appreciative. 

Kid at least knew how to take care of his weapons, his inner huntsman voice said. Knew how to sharpen them.

“So, how’d you figure out how to use your Semblance? The fire thing you were doing?”

“I wanted to burn someone’s face off, so I did. Got a problem with that?” Unsaid that if Qrow did, the kid would never respect him or listen to him for a long while, if ever. And he had the knives to make things difficult.

“He deserve it?” Qrow asked instead.

The kid -no, Xanxus, someone who had killed someone intentionally would never be a kid again- nodded and Qrow let that be it.

“Alright, gonna take a shower myself and then tomorrow we’ll make our way towards Vale.” Or, a voice whispered in his mind, he could call his sister, get there in a few minutes. But he'd do that tomorrow. And he hoped that she'd pick the both of them up, once she was done laughing at him.

And of course, the water was cold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Meant to put this up yesterday, got busy with other questions on tumblr
> 
> Original end notes: No headcannons at the minute; just fic. Gotta plot more for headcannons to happen.
> 
> Kinda toying with plot ideas at the moment (Ozzie, Team STRQ’s implosion, Raven running off) but when and if I send Xanxus to Beacon, he’s going to lead Team BLSH. Because reasons.


	3. Corvids and Assassins meet pt 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another prompt from Anon: So can I ask what the plan for Raven is? She hasn't run off already I think, based on what you said in your other posts...

Xanxus actually hadn’t truly slept despite being full and clean, no matter how tempted he was. He didn’t know enough about Qrow to trust him and now that he was reasonably secure it grated more and more. Mostly the fact that Qrow would have nominal legal authority over him. In a culture and under a government he had not much of a clue about. It existed, but for all that he'd heard of Kingdoms, he hadn't heard of a King and one of the things royalty did was make sure that their image was known; usually by putting their face on money. As money seemed to be called lien and made of plastic with a magnetic strip, it seemed like it would be even easier than minting it.

Based on all the technology around, the world was reasonably advanced, by which he meant some things seemed the same but others were more advanced. Interactive holographic phones called scrolls were a big clue there; he hadn’t seen much more than that but it would exist. Sophisticated computers and recording technology were sure to exist. Being out in the countryside, technology would take a drop but technology like the scroll meant industry and government existed. Together those explained the small airfield he’d seen in pretty much every small village.

From a guess, he suspected that these Grimm were a far larger problem for any sort of logistics business and so while roads existed, they weren’t secured against the Grimm. Securing those would at least require fortifications, never mind the drain on resources beyond the fiscal.  Manpower problems, as far as he could tell, which again was always an issue. Which explained why there were turrets in that abandoned village, for all that at least reclaiming weapons would make sense to recoup a little of the investment. Turrets would be good to thin out a marauding horde. It also meant you tied up less people manning the walls, so more could be done.

It then figured that most of the presumed world’s transportation would be done by air, where less Grimm could bother it, lowering costs. Expensive, yes, but hiring less people and not having to provide death pensions would offset a lot of it. Ships would exist, but those were far more easily armored and could be engineered enough that they could be reasonably safe. He hadn’t seen cars, but that might be a big city thing, for all that most big cities also had a train line that while limited -one direction along a track- the technology seen could easily make a flying train or something in case parts of the track were destroyed by Grimm, should the Grimm or some other possibility destroy part of a track. Depending on how it was propelled and all that. Bullet trains in concept weren't difficult, just expensive.

He still wasn’t sure how things were powered, as he hadn’t seen any powerlines but that was probably because of the Grimm. An invading force would take advantage of the opportunity present and livewires were dangerous. So things were probably built sturdy and smart, fortification as part of everyone’s daily life as suited what looked like a world that was besieged by the Grimm. Circumstances built culture and a constant -presumed unending- threat of invasion, death and loss meant they'd value strength and resilience.

Xanxus had also learned that the Grimm around the world were fought by warriors, soldiers and Huntsmen; people who dedicated their life to combat and Huntsmen had special abilities. He hadn’t learned more than that but it appeared that those special abilities were called Semblances. Why and how he didn’t know, but even after Qrow had turned out the light, Xanxus had continued to finished maintenance on his weapons and returned most of them to his bag. His ignorance of the Grimm had been a saving grace for those first few days; he hadn't known to be wary of them and consider them a threat to him. After he had learned they existed... well, they weren't that difficult to kill, even when limited to just knives. Only a threat en masse, for the most part; simple awareness of his surroundings meant he wasn't tricked by the snake thing, or its partner snake. Kill it with fire was a valid tactic, as was beheading for all that doing so was easier with a sword.

It was very much a pain in the ass to carry concealed knives that were accessible and would stay put without a fitted harness. Sure he had sheaths but that just meant he wasn’t cut up by his own knives. For that end, a cannibalized pair of panty hose sufficed to do so. They exerted enough pressure to keep the light knives in place, while not cutting off his circulation.

He currently couldn’t use his guns; not as a pair and not without a moment to make sure he didn’t shatter his wrists from the kick. So he hadn’t and thus didn’t need to do maintenance on them. He had found some supplies for doing so and kept them but he’d been using his knives more and it showed. A couple had been so ruined he'd not even bothered recovering them; his knives weren't meant to channel Wrath Flames.

So instead of laying down and sleeping under the covers, he’d crouched into the corner, pulled his bed’s blanket around him and dozed. It was the best he was going to get in a room with another person when he hadn't trapped the room.

-

Qrow hadn’t slept easily; the mattress wasn’t the best quality and he hadn’t had enough booze to shut his head up so he could go to sleep easy, head too numb to fight the thought of it. Dark thoughts and self-loathing weren’t a recipe for a good night’s sleep.

Instead he had listened to Xanxus sharpen knives in the dark and knew with a certainty that not all of them had went into the pack. Hard lessons indeed to keep a pack organized enough to know where things were in the dark. Had he had some training or picked up the habit from someone who had? He'd have to ask later.

Qrow eventually got to sleep and eventually woke up earlier than he wanted to, not that the call of nature would wait. He shambled off to the bathroom, taking in the details and giving them a bit of thought.

He’d noticed the way the blankets were pulled around Xanxus, the way one hand was near the sleeve of the hoody; Qrow would bet that at least a couple of knives stayed on Xanxus' person. There was also no way to get tangled in the sheets like that. Meant he should probably not get too close upon waking Xanxus up; violence was likely and Qrow liked living. His damn luck didn’t need that sort of invitation. Sure, Qrow had aura, but the fire he had seen Xanxus use made the hairs on the back of his neck raise up. Qrow didn't want to personally feel what could happen if said fire met unprotected flesh.

Qrow also had noticed on his way back, that Xanxus was awake, between the sliver of daylight coming through the window and the fact that Xanxus’ red eyes were lit up like lanterns in the hazy light. Creepy. Also vaguely terrifying in an atmospheric sort of way.

He also didn’t look like he had slept at all, but catnapped all night long. Qrow had a grumpy murder brat on his hands and Qrow was short on sleep too.

And it was probably too early to call his sister, who’d be all too gleeful at his situation. He still wasn't sure what she'd laugh about most.

-

Breakfast was light, but filling, so Xanxus wasn’t surprised Qrow suggested training as a way to pass the time to a more civilized hour. It seemed that they were both tactfully ignoring their own lack of sleep, and Xanxus needed more practice against people while tiny. They easily found themselves in the clearing they had met in yesterday, set their packs next to them as Qrow tried to figure out the teacher thing.

“So as you’ve clearly had your aura unlocked-”

“My what?”

“Your aura, the expression and strength of your soul.” Qrow’s tone changed from conversation to something more rote and annoyed. “Can be used for defense so you’re harder to hurt, helps you heal faster and otherwise break through human limits?”

Ah, something Xanxus could work with. The limits of what he’d have to work with or around. Which did match up to what he could do with Flames. It explained why Qrow felt so odd to his Flame sense.

Aura, huh? Power from the soul? Compared to Flames, energy in the body, controlled, refined and use for a variety of effects. He'd have to figure out how things went with souls, but it seemed it would take some time and experimentation.

So then it was onto training, where Xanxus would get to see how much readjusting to his current height went out the window when fighting a human opponent, instead of something vaguely human-shaped, as those bear things were vaguely human-shaped.

He was always good at hand-to-hand, now time to see how much of it stuck and what he could do now.

-

Qrow had heard of fighting prodigies, those smart enough to never need correcting twice and met those who had earned every sliver of their skill through hours on end of training.

Qrow had heard of the phrase of ‘right before my own eyes’ and thought it was a phrase that applied to a matter of years or something.

Not the course of a single morning. Not within a few hours at best. Not for a kid.

But now he knew that Xanxus was very good, very fast and very well trained. As an assassin, judging by how he always went for fatal points. Knives freshly sharpened came far too close for Qrow’s own comfort.

And that fire of his? Aura-breaker.

Every. Single. Time.

Now armed with knowing a bit more about how to and how not to deal with Xanxus and it having reached a more civilized hour, he pulled out his scroll and called his sister.

-

Xanxus was quite pleased with himself; he was good in hand to hand and close quarters and clearly Qrow was no slouch either. Being tiny meant he needed to be more agile in how he moved; momentum was how you made hits hurt. It was more acrobatic than he liked, but handstands and such were needed for a turn of speed and attack from unexpected angles.

Xanxus was getting tired though, so he didn’t protest Qrow signaled for a break and took out his scroll.

“Hey sis, Tai tell you anything yet?" The woman -Qrow's sister- must have shook her head, as Xanxus didn't hear anything. “Well, I’d like a pick-up for me and someone else. Yeah, you’ll see.”

Qrow had a terrible phone manner, was an idle thought. Was his sister a pilot or something? Xanxus hadn't asked, but it'd make sense. So they'd would have to settle in and wait some more.

The portal was more of a surprise.

The woman -long black hair, red eyes, armed- who emerged from the portal busting out with laughter because she looked at the both of us?

Yeah, wasn’t expecting that either.

But at least the family resemblance was going strong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original tumblr endnote: No headcanons, more fic. Gonna go sleep now.


	4. Corvids and Assassins meet pt 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original tumblr prompt from anon: How does Qrow plan about on doing some family bonding type? And how does Xanxus go about learning more about the world of RWBY with Qrow around?

Xanxus has no idea who the woman who came through the portal was beyond Qrow’s sister -the family resemblance was very helpful- but the instant his brain processes what he could sense through Flames, he knew that the woman before him was a mess.

It showed, blatantly to someone who knew what they were looking for. And how to look.

He had some time to do a little thinking about what Qrow had said earlier; stretching wasn’t thought intensive. Not as much thinking time as he had wanted -he was making sure his brain didn’t think he was twice the height and had twice the reach he did have now and so had leaned on his Flames to make sure of it- and he didn’t have enough data to say so but he had a guess about what Semblances were and maybe how they happened.

Beyond whatever this Aura-soul-power stuff was; Flames at least were energy produced and contained in the body unless manifested externally; aura seemed to work like a barrier, which could be broken through, suggesting that the soul was larger than the body -or projected through the body- and more importantly that it could be mindfully controlled, so long as a person was taught.

He doubted that Aura control -would that be the term?- would be nearly as fine as what could be done with Flames. Otherwise they’d learn how to sense it, like he had learned how to sense Flames. So if he could learn how it worked more and applied his knowledge of Flames, he could in theory make himself learn how to. Or he'd figure out a Mist-way to cheat it and then figure out how to do so through hard work.

“Rae, stop laughing!”

To her credit, she did, only to look between them again and laugh again. It was good for the woman, who was at least partly armored -gauntlets and grieves that looked to be part of a set- and armed. Not that surprising, with the phrase of 'laughter being the best medicine' and all that. Laughter was good for the soul, and she needed it.

Honestly, Xanxus was more surprised that no one seemed to have a clue of how close to the breaking point she was. Stressed Clouds made for murderous Clouds. Laughter was a good sign, so long as it wasn’t crazy murder laughter, reaching the genocide point.

Then again, the best Clouds were always the craziest battle-maniacs, especially when they fought for their own cause or one they believed in.

To lose faith in it and have no one notice or care enough to notice? Or enough to even have doubts with her enough to change?

Yeah, he’d cut and run too if he had no reason to stay.

-

“Sorry little brother, but wasn’t it just a short while ago you were saying how you never wanted to have children? It seems a bit hypocritical,” She said, waving a hand in Xanxus’ direction biting back more laughter. Or trying. And not very hard, going by the giggles.

He would not even suggest she was practically giggling; he knew better. He had lived with her his entire life, even before they were born, being twins and all that. Tai could, but she’d married him; Tai of course got special treatment, being Raven's husband.

“Getting pissed on while changing your daughter’s diapers does have a way to fray tempers.” How Tai dealt with that was beyond Qrow but clearly having a child did a whammy on thought processes. More than having actually married his sister. That was crazy, Even crazier, his sister agreed. Love was apparently crazy like that. His sister was not the most maternal woman, but she was doing the wife-and-kids thing better than he thought. Well, kid for right now, but that could change.

It was just now he was responsible for someone else beyond his team and it was crazy how much his brain had just shifted like that. Xanxus wouldn't need much watching, but Qrow doubted that sending Xanxus straight to school would work out well, even if Tai taught there. Xanxus would need to adjust to the world, broaden his horizons when it came to the nicer things in the world. There'd be an adjustment period, just like he and Raven had adjusted to not being part of a bandit tribe.

 

“She’s not even a year old, she’s not going to be potty trained Qrow. Unlike yours right there. How old is he? Ten?”

“Eight, I think.” Qrow admitted a bit bitterly. He had fooled around with some women before -mostly small village woman thinking he was a Huntsmen instead of a bandit- going to Beacon but the first year and a half at Beacon was spent focusing on the mission given to them by the tribe, by their own mother. Learn how to kill huntsmen, by learning how they fight by focusing their team to be the best; winning the Vytal festival as first years only further proved their skill. He hadn’t quite been entirely celibate or sober the entire time but third year for the Vytal festival student exchange? He stayed buzzed most of the time there, despite Vacao being Vacao. People were people and criminals were criminals, where in the world they were at didn't change that so he could deal with them buzzed. Bandits were criminals too and growing up in a bandit tribe meant he was an old hand at dealing with criminals.

There were people who said he hadn’t been sober since his second year of Beacon, but that was mostly teasing. It wasn’t like he’d drink to excess enough to be drunk. Generally. Some exceptions for some good shit or a reason to celebrate of course.

“He’s got the Branwen look, so that’s good.” Raven said, referring to Xanxus' coloration.

“He looks like he’s deciding if he wants to kill you or not.” And how best to do it and get rid of the body after, Qrow suspected.

“The Branwen look.” She affirmed in that stubborn way that Qrow knew there’d be no moving her on.

-

Rae Branwen, if that was her name? Most cultures had the woman take on the husband's last name and he didn't know if she were married. Italian woman usually used their maiden name despite being married, but that was more of an exception through the world than the norm and he didn't even know the norm here. He wasn't even sure she was married.

He had a lot of impressions about her, but first and foremost was Cloud, armed and dangerous. That was followed by a sense of 'distorted perception' and that was more dangerous.

He couldn’t say why yet to the latter but Xanxus had solid instincts, enough experience and knowledge to have some considerable insight into people and could actually think fast. It was why people had believed he was of Vongola blood for so long, to have their vaunted hyper intuition. Understanding and outwitting people was easy when you knew what made them tick. From what they wanted to how they'd do so to how they'd prefer to do so... child's play.

Rae Branwen tocked.

Close enough to pass to the unobservant, was not nearly as well hidden to those that would know her. And those would be few and far between and those lucky few might be too close to see it.

“So am I actually ever going to get a name for my darling nephew?”

Qrow rolled his eyes. “Raven, meet Xanxus. Xanxus, meet my older twin sister. And if Raven would ever do something other than laugh and gloat, Xanxus can meet the rest of the team STRQ and our new mascot, Yang.”

The way Qrow pronounced 'Yang' with the English pronunciations made Xanxus' ears cringe. But the name at least hinted that there were other cultures out, probably similar to ones he knew as Byakuran Gesso had shoved him over here. There had to be similarities in this world enough for it to count as parallel and if not, Gesso was lying and had tossed him somewhere into the multiverse. The fucker. He needed to learn more about this world, so this was a start to know something other than English was around.

“That’s some way to talk about your niece.” Raven huffed as she drew a sword of something red and slashed a portal next to her. Qrow went through immediately. “Well, hurry up, I haven’t got all day.”

_Yeah, but you didn’t want to get back there either_ , Xanxus thought, as he passed through the portal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original tumblr endnote: Methinks anon gives Qrow too much credit. There's caring, there's being a responsible parent and then there's having a functional and healthy relationship between people who have issues.
> 
> At least they're on Patch now?

**Author's Note:**

> Qrow's bad luck is to run into Xanxus. It's worse luck that they look a lot alike, in terms of coloration. As Raven's already had a child and I didn't want to make Xanxus younger than Yang that left Qrow. To suffer.
> 
> Also might eventually write little shorts and drabbles playing more on this idea so...


End file.
